A/N: So, I haven't written for HTTYD for some time, but I do hope you guys enjoy this story. Feel free to let me know.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any of the characters, Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks do.

Hiccup quickly glanced behind him as he set the basket down.

This was it. He had been hesitant at first, but now he was certain that he must do this. There was no other course of action.

"We're leaving, Bud," he said softly. "For good."

Suddenly, he saw a glint of something. As he stood up, he saw none other than Astrid Hofferson sitting cross-legged on the rock in front of him, sharpening her axe with a whetstone.

Hiccup let out a cry of surprise and quickly retreated a few steps.

"W-what are you doing here?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

"I want to know what's going on," she replied tersely, jumping to her feet, her double-bladed axe now in her grip. "And you're gonna tell me."

"I-" Hiccup took another step back, raising his hands in front of him instinctively. But it would do no good if Astrid chose to escalate things. It took most of his strength to lift a weapon like the one the blonde beauty was currently holding, one that she wielded with ease.

"No one just gets as good as you do," Astrid sneered, advancing on Hiccup. "Especially you. Are you training with someone or something?"

"Training?" Hiccup snorted. 'Who'd wanna train with me?'

"Does it have something to do with this?" Astrid demanded, now glaring at his riding vest.

Suddenly, from behind came the sound of something crunching on the foliage.

Oh no...not now…

Astrid gasped as a large, black dragon with green pupils and black irises loomed above her.

"Get down!" she screamed at Hiccup. He might not be her favorite person on Berk, but-

As she raised her axe, and prepared to strike the beast, Hiccup tackled her to the ground, wrestled the axe from her grasp, and pushed it where she could not reach it. Right as she was about to ask what the hell he thought he was doing, the boy threw himself between her and the dragon.

"It's okay," he was saying to the dragon. "She's a friend."

The dragon lowered itself to its haunches, but it continued to glower at her as Hiccup turned his attention to her.

"You just scared him," he said.

"I scared him?" she screeched as she stood up.

Then she froze.

"Who. Is him?"

"Astrid, Toothless," Hiccup nodded. "Toothless, Astrid."

The dragon, Toothless, gave a snort and his eyes narrowed further until they were reduced to slits.

Suddenly, it all made sense to Astrid now…the improved training, the constant disappearances…his 'way with the dragons' as Gobber put it…

Hiccup was a traitor!

Their people had fought dragons for generations, ever since they settled Berk. And now he, the chief's son no less, was siding against his tribe's greatest enemy.

Astrid had always believed Hiccup wasn't really fit to be one of them, but even she had never believed he'd stoop to this…

She had to tell.

With one last venomous glare at the traitorous chief's son, Astrid turned on her heel and raced down the path as fast as she could, not once looking back.

A part of Hiccup wanted to go after her, to show her that Toothless, and other dragons as well, were not the monsters his tribe thought they were. But then, the realization dawned on him.

Stoick would surely be among the first people, if not the first one outright, that Astrid would tell what she saw there. And Hiccup knew his father never listened to him. Why would he now? Especially when the dragon in question was a Night Fury.

And Toothless couldn't fly…if Stoick managed to get his hands on him…

No. Hiccup knew there were only two ways that situation could end, and he did not want to even think about either one.

"Come on, Bud," Hiccup urged, throwing the basket on Toothless's back before climbing on and preparing to take off. "She'll be back any minute and no doubt she'll have most of the village with her."

Toothless gave a deep, rumbling growl as Hiccup put his foot down, opening the tail, and with that the pair were in the air.

"We'll stop to rest once we've put a fair distance between us and here," Hiccup said, giving the back of Toothless's neck a scratch. "I promise."

Toothless made another noise, seemingly one of agreement and began to pick up speed.

He didn't want to believe what the Hofferson girl had said.

He wanted to tell himself that Hiccup would never do such a thing. Not when he'd spent his whole life trying to be one of them.

And yet, as Gobber thought more about it, it certainly explained the boy's methods in training; none of his methods ever brought any harm to the dragons. Where the other teens would try to bludgeon them or attack, Hiccup could disable them without bringing any harm to himself.

"Check the house," he told Stoick, hoping against hope that he was right. "He wasn't in the forge, he's probably there."

But deep down, he knew he wouldn't be.

As much as he hated to admit it, the one-legged blacksmith knew the Hofferson girl spoke the truth.

Hiccup was gone.

Night was beginning to fall, and Hiccup could feel the air around him growing colder as the last of the sun's rays disappeared beyond the horizon.

Perhaps flying further north hadn't been the best idea.

They had been flying for ages, and he could hear Toothless beginning to breathe harder.

"I know, Toothless," he sighed. "But I think we're a good ways away. We're almost out of the Archipelago. Let's start looking to see where we can land so you can rest a little."

At the mention of rest, Toothless perked up slightly and the pair began to look around at the world below.

"There's a spot," Hiccup said, pointing down at a large spot of land.

Toothless zeroed in on the landscape and darted straight for it.

As the last of the sun's light faded out, Hiccup laid against Toothless's side, staring into the flickering light of the fire Toothless had just lit.

He and Toothless could never return to Berk, that much the young Viking knew for sure. He was certain his father had found out what he had done by now. And no doubt he was furious and disappointed. But then, that was nothing new. He was always disappointed when it came to Hiccup.

Astrid would now likely take his place as the winning recruit and she would be given the honor of killing her first dragon in front of the village.

Now that he knew what they were really like, Hiccup truly felt for whichever dragon it was that Astrid would kill. And she would do it too.

As if sensing his rider's troubled thoughts, Toothless nudged Hiccup's shoulder with the tip of his snout.

Hiccup smiled slightly at the dragon and reached into his basket, withdrawing a nice, fat cod.

"Here you go, Bud," he said, tossing it up and laughing as Toothless caught it in his mouth before swallowing it whole. "And don't worry, you don't have to share."

In truth, Hiccup was hoping the Night Fury would be greedy for once and keep it all for himself instead of heaving part of it back up for his human companion. Hiccup had no intentions of eating another fish regurgitated by a dragon again.

As a slight breeze made its way through the night air, Hiccup could feel the cold cut straight through his tunic and leggings.

He had packed hastily, so the only other thing he had brought had been a single pelt which he now threw over his trembling form, but it still did little to warm him.

He had always been more susceptible to cold and sickness. Just another reason his father looked at him as a disappointment. Along with the rest of the village.

Toothless looked concerned and whined softly as he felt Hiccup's tremors.

Before Hiccup could assure the dragon, he felt Toothless's tail and wings drape over him as the dragon curled up around him.

He could feel the warmth coursing through Toothless's scaly frame and found himself nestling closer into the dragon's hold.

"Thanks, Bud," he whispered, pulling the pelt around himself and finally allowing his body to relax and for sleep to take him.

Alright, I hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter. And the next one will be out on Tuesday, September 1st. Until then, everyone.